2026 UC Irvine Anteaters men's volleyball team

2026 UC Irvine Anteaters men's volleyball
2026 UC Irvine Anteaters men's volleyball
Conference	Big West Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 5
Record	13–3 (1–1 Big West)
Head coach	David Kniffin (14th season);
Assistant coach	Michael Brinkley (3rd season)
Home stadium	Bren Events Center ; Crawford Hall

The 2026 UC Irvine Anteaters men's volleyball team is the varsity intercollegiate volleyball program of the University of California, Irvine. The team's home venue is Bren Events Center located on campus in Irvine, California. They also play at Crawford Hall for smaller games. UCI has been a member of the Big West Conference since the 2017–18 season, when the league began sponsoring the sport.^[1] UC Irvine begins the season ranked sixth in the nation.^[2] This year is also the first year that twelve teams will have a chance to play in the NCAA men's volleyball tournament, as the NCAA expanded the tournament to accommodate the sport's growth.^[3]

2026 Big West Conference men's volleyball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 3 Hawaii ‍‍‍	2	–	0	1.000	19	–	3	.864
No. 13 UC San Diego ‍‍‍	2	–	1	.667	11	–	7	.611
No. 8 UC Santa Barbara ‍‍‍	2	–	1	.667	10	–	7	.588
No. 5 UC Irvine ‍‍‍	1	–	1	.500	13	–	3	.813
No. 2 Long Beach State ‍‍‍	0	–	2	.000	14	–	4	.778
No. 17 Cal State Northridge ‍‍‍	0	–	2	.000	12	–	6	.667

† – Conference champion ‡ – Big West tournament champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of March 21, 2026 Rankings from AVCA

Previous season

Last season, UC Irvine finished with a 21–7 record, going 6–4 in the Big West, and finishing third in the conference. They did not receive an at-large bid to the 2025 NCAA men's volleyball tournament while being ranked fourth in the nation at the time. The Anteaters fell to eventual 2025 Big West tournament champions, Hawai'i, 1–3.^[4] UC Irvine finished the season ranked fifth in the nation following the tournament's conclusion.^[5]

Preseason

Source:^[6]

Both the preseason All-Big West team, and the Big West Coaches' Poll were released on December 29, 2025. UC Irvine did not have any players make the preseason team.

Big West Coaches' Poll

Coaches' Poll
Pos.	Team	Points
1	Long Beach State	24 (4)
2	Hawai'i	22 (2)
3	UC Irvine	17
T-4	CSUN	9
	UC San Diego
	UC Santa Barbara

Roster

Source:^[7]

2026 UC Irvine Anteaters Roster

Libero/Defensive Specialists

1 Shane Atiken - RS Sophomore

Setters

2 Micah Tumas - RS Freshman
15 Cameron Kosty - RS Freshman (also listed as an opposite hitter)
24 Aidan Rigg - RS Sophomore
27 Aidan Schulten - RS Junior

Middle Blockers

7 Micah Goss - Sophomore
8 Lukas Winn – Sophomore
10 Nicolas Restrepo – RS Sophomore
11 Kobe Brown – RS Sophomore
13 Beck Weber - RS Junior
19 Alec Apelian - Sophomore

Outside Hitters

6 Tim Ennis – Sophomore
9 Andrej Jokanovic – Freshman
12 Trevor Clark - Junior (also listed as an opposite hitter)
16 Aidan Cuppett – Sophomore
23 Andreas Brinck - Freshman

Opposite Hitters

5 William D'Arcy – Senior
14 Andon Kiriakou – Junior

Coaches

2026 UC Irvine Anteaters Coaching Staff
David Kniffin – head coach – 14th year Michael Brinkley – assistant coach – 3rd year

Schedule

Source:^[8]

Legend
	Anteaters win
	Anteaters loss
	Postponement
*	Non-Conference Game

2026 UC Irvine Anteaters Men's Volleyball Game Log (13–3)

Regular Season (13–3)

January (9–0)
Date	TV	Opponent	Rank	Stadium	Score	Sets	Attendance	Overall	BWC
UC Santa Barbara Invitational
January 8	ESPN+	vs. Harvard*	No. 6	The Thunderdome Santa Barbara, California	3–0	(25–17, 25–16, 25–13)	150	1–0	—
January 9	ESPN+	vs. Kentucky State*	No. 6	The Thunderdome	3–0	(25–9, 25–7, 25–5)	50	2–0	—
January 10	ESPN+	vs. Maryville*	No. 6	The Thunderdome	3–0	(25–16, 25–18, 25–21)	55	3–0	—

January 14	—	No. 18 Princeton*	No. 7	Bren Events Center Irvine, California	3–0	(25–17, 25–19, 25–10)	1,594	4–0	—
January 16	B1G+	T-No. 3 Pepperdine*	No. 7	Firestone Fieldhouse Malibu, California	3–1	(25–23, 26–24, 22–25, 25–20)	906	5–0	—
January 23	B1G+/BYUtv	at No. 8 BYU*	No. 5	Smith Fieldhouse Provo, Utah	3–2	(16–25, 21–25, 26–24, 25–23, 15–13)	4,255	6–0	—
January 24	B1G+/BYUtv	at No. 8 BYU*	No. 5	Smith Fieldhouse	3–2	(25–17, 26–24, 23–25, 23–25, 15–10)	4,301	7–0	—
January 30	—	No. 16 Stanford*	No. 5	Bren Events Center	3–1	(27–25, 23–25, 25–20, 25–13)	1,798	8–0	—
January 31	—	No. 16 Stanford*	No. 5	Bren Events Center	3–2	(25–19, 22–25, 25–20, 19–25, 15–8)	1,742	9–0	—

February (3–2)
Date	TV	Opponent	Rank	Stadium	Score	Sets	Attendance	Overall	BWC
February 4	B1G+	at Vanguard*	No. 5	Freed Center Costa Mesa, California	3–1	(25–23, 24–26, 25–13, 25–16)	123	10–0	—
February 6	B1G+	at Concordia Irvine*	No. 5	CU Arena Irvine, California	3–1	(25–22, 23–25, 25–22, 26–24)	227	11–0	—
February 11	—	No. 4 USC*	No. 5	Bren Events Center Irvine, California	2–3	(26–24, 25–22, 16–25, 19–25, 16–18)	2,120	11–1	—
February 13	B1G+	at No. 4 USC*	No. 5	Galen Center Los Angeles, California	3–1	(25–20, 25–23, 23–25, 25–23)	1,063	12–1	—
February 27	—	No. 1 UCLA*	No. 4	Bren Events Center	2–3	(22–25, 25–20, 30–28, 22–25, 11–15)	4,133	12–2	—

March (1–1)
Date	TV	Opponent	Rank	Stadium	Score	Sets	Attendance	Overall	BWC
March 11	ESPN+	No. 11 UC Santa Barbara	No. 4	Bren Events Center Irvine, California	3–1	(25–20, 25–22, 21–25, 26–24)	1,380	13–2	1–0
March 13	ESPN+	at No. 11 UC Santa Barbara	No. 4	The Thunderdome Santa Barbara, California	2–3	(25–16, 23–25, 25–18, 17–25, 15–17)	0	13–3	1–1
March 27	—	UC San Diego		Bren Events Center
March 28	ESPN+	at UC San Diego		Lion Tree Arena La Jolla, California

April (0–0)
Date	TV	Opponent	Rank	Stadium	Score	Sets	Attendance	Overall	BWC
April 3	—	Hawai'i		Bren Events Center Irvine, California
April 4	—	Hawai'i		Bren Events Center
April 9	—	CSUN		Bren Events Center
April 11	ESPN+	at CSUN		The Matadome Northridge, California
April 17	ESPN+	at Long Beach State		Walter Pyramid Long Beach, California
April 18	—	Long Beach State		Bren Events Center

Postseason (0–0)

Big West Tournament (0–0)^[9]
Date	TV	Opponent	Rank	Stadium	Score	Sets	Attendance	Record	Postseason Record
April 23/24	—	vs. TBD		Bren Events Center Irvine, California
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AVCA Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Pacific.

Rankings

Source:^[10]

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
( ) = First-place votes
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Final
AVCA	6	7	5	5 (1)	5	5	4	4	4	4	5

References

^ vinnielopes (June 1, 2016). "Big West conference to add men's volleyball starting in 2018 - Off the Block". www.offtheblockblog.com. Retrieved April 3, 2025.
^ "Check out the latest polls for NCAA & high school volleyball". AVCA. Retrieved December 24, 2025.
^ "National Collegiate MVB Championship Expanding to 12 Teams". AVCA. Retrieved December 24, 2025.
^ "The Hawaiian Islands presents the 2025 Outrigger Big West Men's Volleyball Championship - The Big West". bigwest.org. Retrieved December 24, 2025.
^ "Check out the latest polls for NCAA & high school volleyball". AVCA. Retrieved December 24, 2025.
^ "Defending National Champion Long Beach State Picked to Win Conference Crown in Big West Preseason Polling". bigwest.org. December 29, 2025. Retrieved December 30, 2025.
^ "2026 Men's Volleyball Roster". UCI Athletics. Retrieved December 24, 2025.
^ "2026 Men's Volleyball Schedule". UCI Athletics. Retrieved December 24, 2025.
^ "The Hawaiian Islands presents the 2026 Outrigger Big West Men's Volleyball Championship". The Big West. Retrieved February 2, 2026.
^ "Check out the latest polls for NCAA & high school volleyball". avca.org. Retrieved February 2, 2026.

[1] vinnielopes (June 1, 2016). "Big West conference to add men's volleyball starting in 2018 - Off the Block". www.offtheblockblog.com. Retrieved April 3, 2025.

[2] "Check out the latest polls for NCAA & high school volleyball". AVCA. Retrieved December 24, 2025.

[3] "National Collegiate MVB Championship Expanding to 12 Teams". AVCA. Retrieved December 24, 2025.

[4] "The Hawaiian Islands presents the 2025 Outrigger Big West Men's Volleyball Championship - The Big West". bigwest.org. Retrieved December 24, 2025.

[5] "Check out the latest polls for NCAA & high school volleyball". AVCA. Retrieved December 24, 2025.

[6] "Defending National Champion Long Beach State Picked to Win Conference Crown in Big West Preseason Polling". bigwest.org. December 29, 2025. Retrieved December 30, 2025.

[7] "2026 Men's Volleyball Roster". UCI Athletics. Retrieved December 24, 2025.

[8] "2026 Men's Volleyball Schedule". UCI Athletics. Retrieved December 24, 2025.

[bigwest-9] "The Hawaiian Islands presents the 2026 Outrigger Big West Men's Volleyball Championship". The Big West. Retrieved February 2, 2026.

[avca-10] "Check out the latest polls for NCAA & high school volleyball". avca.org. Retrieved February 2, 2026.

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UC Irvine Anteaters men's volleyball
Venues	Bren Events Center Crawford Hall
Seasons	1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026
National championship seasons in bold